The Living Music List #3: On Filling Time and Killing Time

Is there a difference? Plus, another batch of new music, including reader-submitted ambient

Just want to see the new music recommendations? Click the button below to check out the Living Music List. Otherwise, read on for this week’s reflection and the full list of new additions to the LML summarized.

P.S. You can check out the previous issue of The Living Music List here.

Reflection

Hello, friend.

Do you have the time?

By that, I mean: are you willing and able to spare the time it will take to read this letter?

Some people have probably already tapped, clicked, or looked away, changing their mind mere seconds into this read, and honestly, I’m not surprised.

The entire universe surrounding us is in competition with itself for the attention of our little hunks of sensitive flesh. It feels like there are infinite ways in which we can decide to spend our time… yet our time here in this life is finite, limited, precious.

So why does it feel like we spend so many of our fleeting moments doing little more than drawing breath? We avoid and procrastinate, placing our minds on autopilot while we doomscroll and masturbate. Then we snap out of that period of narrowed perception, sinking instead into a guilty pit beneath the weight of all the hours we’ve wasted.

Lately, though, I’ve felt increasingly certain that time is not a resource we’re capable of wasting. I’ve noticed parallels between the minutes we fill and the ones we kill. And I’m ready, now, to accept the fact that my soul is in constant search of distraction until it returns to that prenatal darkness from whence it came.

Death and Taxes

Here lies the root of our temporal problems as conscious beings: We consistently analyze and appraise the ways in which we are existing. We ascribe value to every action we take, ranking them against the rest of our actions (or apparent inaction), and rating the quality of our time as we spend it.

We need to do this, we claim, to reassure ourselves that there is meaning behind our days. That we aren’t just floating here in nearly empty space for no reason—we’re making something of ourselves, dammit!

If time were a currency, then life is our line of credit and death is a collection agency. When Benjamin Franklin said that death and taxes were the only certain things in life, I think he was really implying that they should be viewed as the same thing.

An inevitable return.

Nothing in Life is Free

We’re here temporarily. We’ve established that—try as we may to avoid our intrusive endpoint remembrances.

That means every moment we spend is value leaving our ledgers, never to be regained.

If we are spending a moment just to breathe, to do absolutely nothing, or to do things that superficially indicate zero return, have we burned through an incomparably valuable resource that can never be replaced?

That, my friend, is a matter of perspective.

Everything in Life is Free

When we fill our time with “productive” activity—reading, listening, creating, working, eating, making, consuming—we typically don’t look back in regret. It was time well spent because we gained something new from it.

A new perspective or piece of knowledge. Fuel for our bodies and minds. Satisfaction from self-expression that we delight in sharing, or validation from receiving the expressions of our fellow beings.

This filled time is worth the minutes, hours, or days we spent on it.

Killed time, on the other hand, is something to be regretted—activities that, at a glance, don’t seem to have gained us anything in return. Ironically, time spent in our heads coping with feelings of regret seems pretty wasteful too, making the initial destruction of time all the worse.

But regret also breeds something positive: lessons from which we learn and grow. We look back and say “I need to do better. I need to do more. I need to do less of that worthless shit.” And then we might do that, at least for a little while before we relapse.

We are at war with our programming, hardwired to work against our evolved desire to be productive, to make something of ourselves. We constantly crave an unproductive existence at the same time we know it feels wrong.

Or maybe I have that backwards. We crave a productive existence, forgetting that productivity and meaning are imagined concepts.

Filled or Killed, Our Time Means What We Decide

I think the direction I’m trying to talk myself into right now is toward a reminder for me (and maybe you too): the only thing I “need to do” is be less hard on myself.

I should not carve tally marks into my skin as punishment for the hours I think I’ve wasted, when I can view them, instead, as inevitable as death itself.

My actions don’t exclusively define the meaning I make of my existence.

Every moment I spend leads me to the next.

I do gain something from every single thing I do, no matter how unproductive or useless it may seem from a societal standpoint.

Breathing is useful. Resting is useful. Procrastinating something planned can even be useful, because it can lead us to a different state of being in which we end up accomplishing the planned task in a completely different way—maybe a far better way.

This is not a pledge to care less about spending my limited time on this Earth in meaningful ways—it’s a pledge to see all my time as meaningful, because that is the gift I was given in exchange for a limited lifetime.

Good or bad, happy or sad, productive or unproductive, I’m living a meaningful life because I choose to see it that way.

Now, I think it’s time to go lay down and veg out to some drone music.

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Music Recommendations + Announcements

Hello again, friend.

Thank you for reading this far. I hope you enjoyed the reflection and didn’t feel it was a waste of your time. Sorry for quite an existential one.

As usual, I’ve got some more new music on offer. Last week’s post and a share on Reddit’s r/ambientmusic sub gained some nice traction for Hum, Buzz, & Hiss, leading to a couple of brief interactions with ambient artists. I’ll be leading the lists with their records first, so make sure to give their stuff a listen!

A reminder: I would love to continue hearing from more of you about what you’re listening to and what you’re sharing with the world, so always feel free to reach out at meltedform@gmail.com.

Now, a couple of quick announcements regarding the Living Music List spreadsheet and this series of posts:

UPDATE #1: New columns have been added to the spreadsheet!

To continue my effort for making the LML a valuable resource you want to keep revisiting, I’m working on adding even more details about the releases on the list, including:

• Runtime: Know at a glance how long your next listen will take.

• Label: Want to find new labels to expand your library with similar artists, or find new music from labels you already love? Now you can.

• For fans of…: My attempt at relating a release to similar sounds of other artists, so you may be even more intrigued by an unfamiliar project.

• Melted Form’s Favorite Track: Once I’ve completed my listen, I’ll let you know which track hit me the hardest (if I had to pick just one).

Disclaimer: These new columns have just been added, so it will take some time for me to populate this info for the now 100+ releases already recommended. Thanks for your patience.

UPDATE #2: Additional genres now included for ambient releases in these posts!

In an attempt to better categorize ambient releases on the spreadsheet, I include two subgenres when possible (genres can be difficult to pin down). For more convenience and transparency for you ambient enthusiasts out there, I’ll be providing both subgenres within these Substack posts when available.

• An example: Hilcomparatee by ab9st8 (album / experimental, noise)*

Okay, I know it’s been a long scroll getting to the best stuff. Happy listening!

Disclaimer #2: Like the theme of the above reflection suggests, I’ve procrastinated this week. So I apologize that I have not added all of these releases into the Living Music List yet, if you’re reading this as soon as it hits your inbox.

The Living Music List—Ambient

Note: All of the below ambient projects are available on Bandcamp. * denotes reader-submitted work—thank you!

1. Hilcomparatee by ab9st8 (album / experimental, noise)*

2. Lady from the Outside by Glamourie (album / electroacoustic, experimental)*

3. ARMAUN by Blendreed (EP / jazz, drone)

4. Fragment of a Dream (73 Min Extended Version) by Max Corbacho (album / drone, space)

5. The Sea Surrounding by Ulaan Janthina (album / drone, avant garde)

6. Ten Skies by Patricia Taxxon (album / drone, experimental)

7. The Sunken Meadow by Stephen Conning (album / drone, dark ambient)

8. Chico Knows by Frame 352 (album / drone, experimental)

9. Mysterious Wind by Gustavo Denouard (album / new age, drone)

10. Through a Glass Darkly by Michael Grunditz (album / drone, dark ambient)

The Living Music List—All Genres

Note: All of the below projects are available on major streaming services.

1. Bad Cameo by James Blake & Lil Yachty (album / electronic)

2. Love Heart Cheat Code by Hiatus Kaiyote (album / alternative)

3. supershapes, Vol. 1 by Mike Lindsay (album / alternative)

4. Revisit by VIDEOTAPEMUSIC (album / electronic)

5. All good? by nonkeen (album / electronic jazz)

6. Grey by Grete (album / R&B/soul)

7. Head Rush by Channel Tres (album / electronic)

8. Keep Me Fed by The Warning (album / hard rock)

9. Hot Sun Cool Shroud by Wilco (EP / rock)

10. Samurai by Lupe Fiasco (album / hip-hop/rap)

11. Loveseat by Still Woozy (album / alternative)

12. Horsie by HOMESHAKE (album / alternative)

13. Manual Manic Procedures by 200 Stab Wounds (album / metal)

14. AЯK by Crossfaith (album / metal)

15. DA FLYY HOOLIGAN - BLACC KENZOU by GourmetDeluxxx (album / hip-hop/rap)

16. Habibi Funk 027: Ahmed Malek - Musique Originale De Films (Volume 2) by Ahmed Malek (album / worldwide)

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In the News

Before I go, here are a few things going on in music:

• Indianapolis-based ambient artist Zakè (AKA Zach Frizzell), who also founded the label Past Inside the Present, will be hosting an AMA (ask me anything) on r/ambientmusic this Sunday, June 30th starting at 1 PM EST. Have questions for Zakè? Here’s a great chance to get some answers.

• This year marks 30 years of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II, and last week, fans were treated to news of a reissue by Warp Records. The reissue will release on October 4.

• A posthumous final album by SOPHIE was announced this week, due to release in September. SOPHIE was a lauded electronic and experimental pop producer who tragically passed due to an accidental fall at home in 2021.

• Another posthumous album from from Ryuichi Sakamoto is also on its way. The record, titled Opus, will release on August 9.

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Phew, another issue out the door and so much music in our queue. Thanks for reading, friend. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Remember to listen to the hum, buzz, & hiss of the world around you—there is music to be heard there.

Want to suggest music for me to listen to? Have questions? Leave a comment or email me at meltedform@gmail.com. You can also join my chat on Substack.